Judge Sentences Man For `Duck Massacre`

June 25, 1986|By James H. Tolpin, Staff Writer

A prominent hunter convicted of organizing a ``duck massacre`` on Lake Okeechobee was sentenced Tuesday to spend 17 weekends in a halfway house and to work 272 hours for a group that ministers to injured animals.

U.S. Magistrate Ann Vitunac also placed William L. McGee, a former local chairman of Ducks Unlimited, on three years` probation. As part of the probation, she stripped him of his federal hunting and fishing licenses for three years and ordered him not to enter a national wildlife refuge.

During the sentencing in West Palm Beach, Vitunac also fined McGee $1,000 and ordered him to make three speeches about his wildlife violations to any civic organization.

``Depletion of our natural resouces is a very serious offense because it lessens the quality of life for all of us,`` Vitunac said.

Last month, Vitunac found McGee guilty of violating two provisions of the Migratory Bird Act -- exceeding the bag limit on Florida mallards and possessing untagged ducks. She delayed imposing sentence until after McGee`s appeal to the U.S. District Court.

McGee, 42, of the 1600 block of Southeast Eighth Street in Fort Lauderdale, and his attorney, David Roth, refused comment after the sentencing.

However in court, Roth said McGee had the most exemplary background of any client he has ever represented, and it would be a ``travesty of justice`` to do anything more than impose a stiff fine and probation.

McGee, a real estate salesman, would not speak on his own behalf, ``because he`s too proud and too macho,`` Roth said.

A light moment in the otherwise tense sentencing occurred after a friend of McGee`s tried to minimize what a prosecutor at trial had called a ``duck massacre.`` C. Edward McGee Jr., a lawyer and no relation to the defendant, asked, ``How many pigs die daily in slaughterhouses to feed us?``

He also asked Vitunac to impose a sentence, with some jail time, that would serve as a deterrent to other hunters.

Vitunac said she seriously considered imposing the maximum penalty of one year in jail, but was dissuaded in part by a letter in which McGee apologized to wildlife officers and the community for his actions during the 1985 duck hunt and during his trial last month.

McGee had allowed friends and his 12-year-old son to testify to ``false statements`` at the trial, Vitunac said.

McGee also told one agent ``I pay your salary,`` after noting that he had raised $60,000 for duck habitats, Vitunac said.

She said she believed McGee did not take seriously prior convictions for wildlife violations, and generally showed a contempt for the law, as evidenced by his not having filed tax returns for the last three years, a fact that came out during McGee`s pre-sentence investigation.

The 17 weekends in the halfway house, Vitunac said, represent one day for each of 34 Florida mallards shot by McGee`s friend Howard O. Haines. Although hunters are permitted only one Florida mallard a day, McGee presented Haines with a trophy for Best Hunter, Vitunac said.

For eight hours each day, McGee is to work at the Fort Lauderdale Wildlife Care Center, Broward County`s branch of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Haines, who was convicted of exceeding the bag limit, is to be sentenced at a later date.